Sunny Sussex WeekendWorth Lodge LongSun 13 May, 2018

Results

Report

Final Results, Splits, YBT results, Routegadget and Winsplits now posted.

Save the date for next year's Sunny Sussex around picturesque Arundel on 18th and 19th May 2019.

Comments from the Organiser, Planner and Controller now available.

Organiser's Comments

What a wonderful day we had at Worth Lodge. Thank you all for coming. Weren’t we lucky with the weather? It helped to make a very friendly atmosphere. Very well done to Guildford Orienteers for winning the SE heat of the Yvette Baker Trophy and good luck in the final.

Many people are not aware of what goes on behind the scenes for such a large event. In the days leading up to the event there were giant Diggers and huge earth moving vehicles blocking the entrance to the assembly field. Jenni, Tulleys event manager, had promised to ensure that everything would be cleared away behind the protective fencing. What a lovely surprise when everything was exactly as promised. Thank you Jenni for also providing the tea, coffee and cakes stall and making us so welcome. Thank you Ian (from Ultrasport) for making the long trip down. It’s always a pleasure to have your company.

As usual a large team of SO helpers swung into action and all worked like clockwork. Special thanks go to Les Coles and the SI team. There was a lot of extra preparation for this year’s Sunny Sussex Weekend with the YBT, the SE Middle Championships and the SE League all needing to be included and calculated. Mike Gammon, as usual, printed all the maps for the weekend until the printer went wrong. With no-one available to repair the printer until after the weekend, he drove to us and printed them on Les’s printer! Thanks to Mike and Les. Well done to Simon for the challenging String Course. It was great that so many children enjoyed it.

We are grateful to Paddockhurst and Tulleys Farm for the orienteering. I heard many comments about the beautiful forest.

Finally special thanks to Steve Jarvis for planning and Andrew Evans for controlling. We have worked together before and it’s always easy.

Bridget and Les Hooper, Organisers

Planner's Comments

In planning the courses at Worth Lodge, I set out with a number of objectives, including the following. 1) Make good use of the previously unused area in the SE corner. 2) Limit the number of controls and include as many longish route-choice legs as possible (without upsetting the overall balance) on the longer courses. 3) Make the event family friendly by avoiding long walks to / from the start / finish. 4) have as much of each course in the trickier (and most pleasant) parts. 5) Make the event manageable in terms of Control Placement, as I wanted to rely on assistance from as few other Southdowners as possible, given the other two events over the weekend (and the possibility of late availability of kit).

It was therefore heartening to hear so many positive comments from Competitors, some of whom are very well respected in the sport, about how much they had enjoyed their courses. For some it was the longish route-choice legs which you don't get enough of in the South-East nowadays, for others it was the fact you couldn't switch off at any point on the course, but for the majority it was just the appreciation of an interesting course in a lovely area.

In the event, despite my best attempts to make the Control placements as manageable as possible, warning bells were ringing on Friday evening when it took me close to 2 hours to place the 13 controls furthest west. I was therefore extremely grateful for the assistance of Neil Watts at very short notice on Saturday afternoon, knowing I still had 48 more to put out and was unlikely to be able to start much before 5pm due to those controls being used at Rivers Wood! Even though our Chairman Steve also took a handful of the more remote ones to put out on the way to Goffs Park, bringing it down to 42, when Tim H called me at 7pm (after running at Goffs Park) to ask how we were getting on, we still had 17 to put out! He joined us, we got an assembly line going as we trekked between controls and everything was in place by about 8.15pm.

Finally, I would like to say thank-you to a large number of people. In particular, Andrew the event Controller, who was an absolute pleasure to work with. He respected my courses, but still made a huge contribution to the success of the event by his attention to detail, not wanting to take any risks with the likes of mapping around the control sites, etc, and always being willing to provide advice and guidance. Not to mention the on-the-day leg-work to "wake-up" SI units..

To Pete Budgen (and staff) at Paddockhurst Estate for being really helpful and accomodating my many requests for access. Roger for pulling out the stops to get the map completed after difficulties gaining access in February (followed by the really poor weather). To Julia and Nick for assisting with control taping and ideas for course improvements. To Les and Mike for finalising and printing the map. To Neil for sorting out the extra bits of kit needed for Level B events, the many Control Collectors (you know who you are), to Tim for being a surrogate parent for 24 hours, and last (but most certainly not least) the Hooper / Chapman family who did a huge amount of Organisational work over the Weekend (and seemed to be everywhere!) and without whom this event would not have happened.

Steve Jarvis, Planner

Controller’s Comments

There were lots of positive comments on Steve’s courses which I concur made excellent use of the area. There were no significant issues that arose on the day for me to need to provide comment or explanation. The Southdowns team led by Bridget and Les were up to their usual exemplary standard. It was a pleasure to work with both of them, Steve and the many other Southdowners who were particularly welcoming and appreciative of my presence and contribution.

Is a web app for sharing and comparing orienteering routes. You can draw your own route or upload a GPS track from your watch. It also allows you to watch an animated replay with a simulated mass start.

Sunny Sussex Weekend Series Info

A weekend of orienteering in the High Weald area of Mid Sussex where you can take part in a middle distance at Rivers Wood, sprint at Goffs Park and a long distance event at Worth Lodge, all within 8km of Crawley. Pre-enter all three events and receive a £3 discount per senior. See Event Flyer.

Location Info

* Postcodes are not very precise in some areas, so don't rely on them for an exact location.

Directions / Parking

£2 Parking fee. Parking is at Tulleys Farm, Turners Hill Road, Crawley, RH10 4PE, GR: TQ324359. Tulleys Farm is on Majors Hill Road/Turners Hill Road. Follow brown signs to Tulleys Farm from the junction of B2110/B2028 in Turners Hill and from the junction of B2036/Turners Hill Road close to Worth.

Please note that due to Run Gatwick, there are major road closures taking place around Crawley from 8am to 1pm on the morning of this event. The advice is to avoid the A23 through Crawley and use the M23 to bypass Crawley. Please plan your journey in advance and check road closure info at https://www.rungatwick.com/race-information.

Public Transport

Unfortunately buses don’t run to Tulleys Farm on a Sunday, but the Worth Way, a bridleway, runs from Maidenbower, Crawley to East Grinstead and Tulley’s Farm is about 1.5km South of it. Nearest train station: Three Bridges

Course Information

White and yellow are suitable for beginners, orange and light green for improvers and very short green to black for experienced Orienteers.

This event is part of the South East League. Competitors can run any course they want, but those that run “down” from the course recommended for their age class will only score a proportion of the points available had they run the recommended course or a higher one.

Entry Details

Special note for juniors (M/W10 to M/W18): This event is the South East round of the Yvette Baker Trophy. Teams must be declared to the event organiser at least two weeks before the competition. Rules for the YBT can be found here.

Entry On the Day (subject to map availability): BOF seniors £15, Other seniors £17, SO juniors free, Other juniors £3. Family groups going with children will be charged at the junior rate.

Registration

Start Times

Map Details

The map has been produced by RLM Maps at a scale of 1:10,000 with 5 metre contours and using ISOM 2017. The new area was surveyed in February & March 2018.

Terrain Description

Sussex Wealden woodland offering extensive runnable forest incised by feature rich stream valleys, part of which has never been used for Orienteering. Further detailed information is available in the final details.

Dog restrictions

Dogs are allowed on leads in the car park, assembly area and around the animals and tea rooms. No dogs on the course. Please pick up after your dog.